One witness, named only as Daniel, told the BBC: “Nobody could come out, they were trapped in there. They couldn't come down because the lift's the other side.

Grenfell Tower had £9m refurbishment but no sprinklers before deadly infernoThe Evening Standard's Dispossessed Fund has launched an appeal to help residents of Grenfell Tower. Donate here: dispossessedfund.org.uk

“I’ve seen people jump… one at least, 10-15 floors up.”

Another witness described the scenes as horrifying as the flames engulfed the block from the second floor up “within seconds”.

“I couldn't believe my eyes. When I came out people in the tower block were waving their phones, screaming ‘help, help, help’”, another witness said.

In a statement on Facebook, assistant commissioner Dan Daly said: “Firefighters wearing breathing apparatus are working extremely hard in very difficult conditions to tackle this fire. This is a large and very serious incident and we have deployed numerous resources and specialist appliances.”

Just before 4am the Metropolitan police said people were being treated for a range of injuries and evacuations were continuing.